


Somewhere West of Tomorrowland

by vinewood



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-19
Updated: 2011-12-19
Packaged: 2017-10-27 13:57:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/296595
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vinewood/pseuds/vinewood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Disneyland has become a milestone in their lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Somewhere West of Tomorrowland

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by a prompt at the Santana Lopez Drabble Meme.

Santana still thinks this is one of the best ideas that Rachel’s ever had.

She loves Disneyland.  Yes, she knows that might be a little lame or whatever, but it’s fucking _Disneyland_.  It’s the happiest place on Earth.  Going is something that was on their agendas since they moved to California a little over three years ago.  Santana can still remember the look on everybody’s faces when Rachel announced that she had committed to USC; glee club was stunned stupid.

It was epic.

She didn’t appreciate the fight that resulted from Rachel’s announcement where certain people (Finn, Kurt, Puck) accused Santana of manipulating Rachel into abandoning her dreams in favor of Santana’s.  They thought that their three month romance could somehow outweigh seventeen years of Rachel’s dreams.  Anyway, it’s utter bullshit because they’re not even at the same school.  Santana’s partying it up and kicking academic ass at UC Santa Barbara.  It’s a two hour drive into Los Angeles but Santana prefers to the three hour train ride because she can catch up on her sleep in her seat.  And in any case, Rachel was the one who picked L.A. over New York and she had reasons other than her budding relationship with vice-captain of the Cheerios.

(Santana was informed of said reasons but she honestly stopped listening after Rachel told her she’d set aside acceptances from NYU, Marymount Manhattan College _and_ Barnard in favor of USC.  The fact that Rachel would now be 100 miles away instead of 3,000 brought such a smile to her face that Santana didn’t even care that she, Rachel, and the rest of the parishioners were walking out of Easter Mass.  She kissed Rachel right in the middle of Saint Gerard’s parking lot.)

So she’s got a scholarship (and a trust fund from her grandparents that she’s got limited access to until she’s twenty-five) but her parents basically disowned her when she came out senior year at McKinley so she’s also got this job on campus.  It’s not much, but the hours she puts in at the UCen give her enough pocket cash to buy whatever she needs and to visit Rachel on a semi-regular basis.  The visits are never long enough for her tastes but they’re a hell of a lot better than what she would’ve gotten had Rachel gone to New York so Santana tries not to complain too much.

Disney’s become a yearly tradition.  It’s one of the few which they can easily maintain.  Rachel invites her down to L.A. for Thanksgiving weekend and they have an awesome meal (half of which is always vegan) at one of Rachel’s (and hers) friends’ places before crashing at Rachel’s dorm and heading down to Anaheim the next morning.

The first time they go, Rachel surprises Santana; the diva has everything planned out, tickets purchased beforehand, lunch packed and stored away in her mini fridge.  Santana bitches about the early Friday morning wakeup (“ _fuck_ Black Friday, and _fuck_ their deals,” she tells her girlfriend) but she quickly gets over it when Rachel tosses a pair of shorts at her and says, “We’re going to the House of Mouse.  If you’re not ready in fifteen minutes, I’m going to Disneyland without you.”

Rachel tells her that she’s in love with her for the first time when they’re curled up under a blanket, waiting for Fantasmic to start.  She’s so happy that she wraps her arms around Rachel and kisses her.  When she finally pulls away she realizes that they’ve missed the first ten minutes of the show.

  


That day is one of the best days of Santana’s life.  It makes sense she’d try to relive it.

  


So she and Rachel are on iChat two weeks before Thanksgiving.  Rachel mentions that dinner is going to be at Teddy’s this year.  Santana hums in response.  She likes Teddy even if the poor dude shares his name with a stuffed bear.  He’s like the West Coast version of Blaine except, you know, _without_ the massive crush on Rachel which Santana greatly appreciates.  Santana tells Rachel that she’s got a test to study for, but she still packs up her backpack and duffel and books a train ticket.  She manages to snatch the last seat on the 6:30 a.m. train into the city on Thanksgiving morning, which blows since she has to get up obscenely early but she does it; there’s four days of Rachel on the line.

Teddy’s a fucking awesome cook.  His apartment in West Hollywood is the closest Santana’s felt to home in a long while, especially since Rachel practically lives in his spare room instead of at her dorm.  Santana’s thankful that she has someplace to spend the holiday, that she has some _one_ to spend the holiday with, because flying to Lima is never going to be an acceptable option for her anymore.

It’s her second straight day of waking up early but Rachel makes it all worth it by kissing Santana awake, slipping her hand into her girlfriend’s panties and pressing two fingers inside her.  Santana bites the corner of her pillow when she falls apart because Teddy’s asleep in the next room and she doesn’t want to be rude.  (Fuck you, she’s grown as a person.)

Disneyland the day after Thanksgiving is brilliant.

Tourists are under the impression that everyone’s gone to the theme parks so they mostly stay away while the bulk of the locals are either busy snatching up Black Friday deals or still suffering from food comas.  It’s nevertheless busy because it’s Disneyland, but the atmosphere is much more relaxed.  Santana loves Rachel for thinking this up.

She’s wearing this Missoni-esque blue dress and flip flops and Rachel’s got on a pair of denim shorts and a gray singlet and flip flops.  The bag with their lunch and sweaters is tucked away in a locker and Rachel’s the only one with a purse today.

She’s affixed a rainbow Mickey pin to it.

They’re out to their families and friends, and Santana thinks it’s nice to be able to walk through the amusement park holding her girlfriend’s hand.  She loves the way Rachel leans into her as they wait in line for the rides and she especially loves that Rachel’s pinned a _Happy Birthday_ button to Santana’s dress so that she’s getting all this extra attention from the park employees.

(They love collecting those special occasion buttons and Santana likes wearing them even when they don’t apply to her.)

They get the big rides out of the way by noon and are on their way to Fantasyland.  Santana knows that they’re going to stop and take a picture in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle because it’s their custom.  (She secretly loves it; what girl didn’t want to be a princess when she was growing up? She has this picture of Rachel wearing oversized sunglasses and smiling brightly while posing in front of the castle their freshman year on her desk back in Santa Barbara.)

Rachel lets go of her hand, unzips her purse and pulls out her iPhone.  Santana finger combs her hair while Rachel hands over her cell phone to a girl who looks vaguely familiar.  Rachel takes Santana’s hands and looks her in the eyes.  Sometimes Santana wants to look away because there is so much love and respect in Rachel’s gaze that the intensity is overwhelming.  Rachel looks a little shaken (why the hell is she nervous? Disneyland is, like, the least intimidating place in the world) so Santana smiles warmly at her diva.

“I wanted to wait until tonight at the show, obviously, because that’s where I made my first major declaration to you and you know I’m a sucker for tradition,” Rachel says.  “But I really can’t wait…”

Santana feels something thin and cold slip onto her fourth finger of her left hand.  She doesn’t need to look down to know that it’s an engagement ring and she’s not all that shocked, really, because they’ve been heading in that direction for the past three and a half years.  It was basically just a question of timing.  She is a little surprised that Rachel beat her to it, though.

“Santana, I-” Rachel starts.

She doesn’t get to finish voicing her proposal because Santana wraps a hand around Rachel’s neck and pulls her in for a kiss.  The kiss is pretty tame for them; Rachel’s hands are on Santana’s waist and the dirtiest thing going down is their breasts pressed up against each other but it conveys everything Santana wants Rachel to know: love, gratefulness, devotion.

Most importantly, it’s a nonverbal answer to Rachel’s unspoken question.

Said answer being, of course, a resounding yes.

(Santana’s not stupid enough to think that there could ever be anyone better than Rachel.)

She hears a loud whoop and the sound of a camera shutter go off and tilts her head to look at the chick with Rachel’s phone.  No shit she looked familiar, it’s Rachel’s roommate Vikki.  She’s filming the moment with the iPhone while Teddy’s grinning like a maniac and her best friend from UCSB, Andrew, has his Leica pointed at them and is snapping pictures.

When they break for air, Santana wraps her arms around Rachel’s neck and hugs her so tightly she might be cutting off circulation.  She leans down slightly, presses a kiss to Rachel’s ear and whispers, “Si, Rachel.  I’ll marry you.”

And so maybe they cry a little while standing in the middle of the Magical Kingdom.

Whatever.  This place is forever cemented as the site where some of her biggest dreams came true.

Rachel doesn’t fault her when Santana practically drags her fiancée over to Guest Services to make a request.  Especially since Santana switches out the _Happy Birthday_ button for one with her name that reads _Just Engaged_.


End file.
